Pointless Sacrifice
by The Unsolvable Riddle
Summary: Even in death, Potter is the bane of his existance... (Nee, character death. Draco Malfoy is featured.)


AN/Warnings: Someone who usually reviews Fais de Beaux Reves is going to come here and yell at me to write another chapter.

I admit it; I have writer's block. I know where I want to go; I just don't know how to get there. 

I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I this wouldn't be fanfiction. I also don't own the lyrics at the end of the song. They are possibly *the* most cheesy lyrics you could put at the end of a fic like this. 

Anyway, here's a one shot for all of you. Perhaps one-sided (?) Harry/Draco if you're really looking for it. Other than that, it's just a fic I wanted to write. I'm currently on a roll with torturing one certain main character…

Italics are memories/past tense. Normal text it present tense. 

Hope you enjoy.

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Pointless Sacrifice

That oh-so-foretold war that everyone had been raving about since the day Harry Potter stepped into Hogwarts only lasted five hours. 

There was only one casualty on the Light Side. 'Dumbledore's Army', his father had called it. 

Draco Malfoy sat at the bar in the Leaky Cauldron, taking a drag of his cigarette. His blonde hair had become longer, and was still slicked back.

He simply looked like a younger Lucius Malfoy. Some of the wizards had been taken aback when he had walked in.

Everyone knew Lucius Malfoy was dead. Killed by the Dark Lord himself.

Tapping some ash off of the end of the cigarette, his mind continued to wander back to the aforementioned battle.

__

Green was big hit that year.

It was the color of Harry Potter's eyes. It was the color of everyone's favorite curse. 

With "Avada Kedrava!"s flying around like no tomorrow (which was really quite possible), Draco Malfoy found himself somehow in the midst of a battle that he hadn't chosen a side on. 

He saw Granger and Weasley, hexes and curses, charms and magic. Longbottom had just decapitated five Death Eaters simultaneously, his brown eyes narrowed and aflame. 

He saw a dull-eyed Crabbe and Goyle, Dark Marks searing their cheeks. 

He hadn't seen Potter the entire time. 

Blaise spotted him from across the field, and aimed the curse at the lost man.

'Kill him!' Hissed a voice in his head. 'He is a…traitor.'

"AVADA KEDRAVA!" He shouted, before being struck down by the same curse from Seamus Finnegan.

Draco didn't even notice the green lightning that surged through the chaos. He was only a spectator, not a target.

He hadn't realized it, but those of the Order had surrounded him. 

A figure stood in front him, arms spread wide. His face turned, and Draco instantly recognized the green eyes and messy black hair.

"Potter, this is no time for faux heroics." The young man laughed, stumbled, and fell backwards. 

He fell straight on top of the young Malfoy, who fell to his knees from the unexpected weight. 

"Potter…Potter! What the hell are you doing?" The blonde stammered, as a vein in Potter' cheek turned green.

"You idiot. Zabini almost Avada Kedrava-ed you." He coughed, blood staining his lips red. 

Draco could feel his legs falling asleep, but he was frozen, stuck holding Potter. His eyelids fluttered to hide emerald eyes, that every now and then seemed to pulse with green lightning. 

"Don't worry. I'll be gone soon." 

"Potter, you insufferable git. You can't die. You just…"

The boy grabbed the other's hand, and clenched it. 

It was actually rather touching, Draco now thought, except for the fact it was rather…well, gay. 

__

"Tell everyone I'm sorry." Potter had choked out, his pupils dilating. 

"Damn it, you didn't need to die a hero, Potter." 

"I'm no…hero…" The dark-haired boy managed to gasp, before the grip on Malfoy's hand loosened, and the beat in his eyes stopped. 

Draco Malfoy stared, unbelieving, at the now dead Harry Potter. His breath splintered out of his throat, it hurt to breathe. 

The 'War' ended five minutes later. 

Weasley and Granger had found him in the same position - staring at lifeless green eyes and trying to breathe. 

When he first looked up at the two, he almost looked ashamed - but this quickly froze into indifference. 

Granger had fallen to the ground next to him, grabbing Potter's wrist and checking for a pulse. 

She started to sob when none was found, and a teary-eyed Weasley had to help her up, as Malfoy hoisted his and Potter's dead weight off of the ground. 

Malfoy laughed, and watched as smoke escaped his lips. 

They had buried Potter at least two years ago. He hadn't gone to the funeral. Too many familiar faces, too many explanations and excuses. He kept the invitation in his coat pocket, to remind him and make him feel guilty all over again.

He threw a few galleons onto the bar table, and ground his cigarette into the ashtray.

"Keep the change."

Two weeks later, he met Granger and Weasley in Flourish and Blotts. 

The two had been staring at him for the longest time, and kept whispering to each other.

Finally, when he couldn't take it anymore, he slammed the book he had been reading shut, and scowled at the pair.

"What the hell is your problem?" He hissed, and Granger just gave him a knowing smile. 

"Nothing. Just nice to see you again, Malfoy." She chimed. 

"Believe me, the feeling isn't mutual." 

Suddenly, Granger had her face very close to his, and she was staring intently into his eyes. Draco was taken aback, but her look wasn't one of a stupid love-sick schoolgirl.

It was like she was looking for something in his eyes, and it was just as normal as looking in her handbag for some lipstick. 

She finally caught something in his eyes, and beamed. 

"Good. He got you too."

For one reason or another, Draco knew exactly who 'he' was.

"What are you on, Granger?" He spat.

Weasley laughed, and moved to stand next to Hermione.

"Harry does that to everyone he meets. He…well, sort of leaves a bit of himself with people. You won't soon forget him, Malfoy."

Draco Malfoy just stared at them as if they were delirious, and Hermione laughed, before linking arms with Weasley and walking out of the store. 

Those two really were insane.

Draco Malfoy had become a regular in the Leaky Cauldron, Wizarding London's most famous pub.

"Mr. Malfoy. The usual, I suppose?" Came the call of the bartender. Malfoy nodded, and continued to stare at his left hand. 

He hadn't noticed it before. He smirked, and traced a finger across his palm, as it criss-crossed from the mount of his forefinger and down to his wrist. 

There it was, as plain as it could be in the dim bar light. 

A white lightning bolt.

Damn Potter.

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"**And then a hero comes along, with the strength to carry on,**

And you cast your fears aside, and you know you can survive;

So when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong,

And you'll finally see the truth, that a hero lies in you…"

- "Hero", sung by Mariah Carey

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End file.
